The St. James A M E Church Oral History Project Interviews, 1986-1987, was a venture of the church membership to conduct and transcribe a series of oral history interviews with former and current members of the congregation and residents of the Fairfax neighborhood of Cleveland, Ohio's east side. Sponsored by the church's Sadie J. Anderson Missionary Society and funded in part by the Ohio Humanities Council, the goals of the project were to examine the role of the family, and the elderly, in the African American community; the place of the church in the community and family life; and the function of the community over time. Additionally, the group hoped to identify traditions of successful African American families. Over a year's time volunteers were trained as interviewers. Forty-one men and women, all over the age of 65 years, participated in taped interviews which were then transcribed. The project included a one day public conference, "Preserving Our African-American Heritage", in November 1986 that was attended by more than 150 people. Workshops at the conference focused on the the African American family and the role of the church in the African American family.
The St. James A M E Church Oral History Project Interviews, 1986-1987, consist of transcripts of interviews conducted with individuals who were or had been members of the congregation and/or residents of the Fairfax neighborhood of Cleveland, Ohio, a final report on the project, publications, and newspaper clippings.
The interviews and data contained in the final narrative provide not only an excellent source of community history in Cleveland, Ohio, but also a detailed account of how the project was conducted, including its shortcomings. The importance of the church in the African American community is emphasized throughout the interviews, both from a religious and social perspective. The role of the family, especially the extended family, is also a popular theme as is the importance of education. Data collected from those who attended the public conference evaluates the training methods used to train volunteers as interviewers and the workshops which were part of the day long conference. The collection provides an excellent example for setting up an oral history project, and is an excellent source of information on the two great inward migrations during World Wars I and II of rural African Americans to the industrial cities of the North.
The collection is arranged alphabetically by subject or family surname.
Audio tapes of the interviews are maintained in the Western Reserve Historical Society's Audio/Visual collection.
Processed by Patricia J. Stahley in 1990.
None.
[Container ___, Folder ___ ] MS 4536 St. James A M E Church Oral History Project Interviews, Western Reserve Historical Society, Cleveland, Ohio
The Sadie J. Anderson Missionary Society of St. James African Methodist Episcopal Church, 1987.
The following terms have been used to index the description of this collection in the library's online public access catalog.